Media item selection

ABSTRACT

Creating a playlist of media items for a desired perceiving experience requires many actions for searching and selecting media items that fit the desired perceiving experience. The invention provides an alternative for creating a perceiving experience without the use of a playlist. To this end, the invention provides a method ( 1 ) for selecting a media item from a plurality of media items, each of the plurality of media items being linked to at least one out of a plurality of content related attribute-value pairs, the method ( 1 ) comprising the steps of defining ( 10 ) for at least one attribute of said plurality of attribute value pairs at least two desired probabilities of selecting a media item having a predetermined value for said at least one attribute, resulting in a desired probability distribution ( 22 ) of at least two predetermined values for which a desired probability has been defined, selecting ( 14 ) an actual value from said at least two predetermined values in accordance with said desired probability distribution ( 22 ), and selecting ( 16 ) one of said plurality of media items having an attribute-value pair corresponding to said actual value and the attribute linked to said actual value. The invention further provides a system ( 1 ) and a media player ( 5 ) for selecting a media item.

The invention relates to selecting a media item from a plurality of media items. The invention further relates to a media player.

In a media player, for example in an MP3-player, a playlist is often created by a user in order to create a perceiving experience which fits a certain situation. For example, the playlist may be a plurality of media items that fit a party, a romantic evening, or jogging. From the plurality of media items, the media player selects a media item which selection may be a random selection. In US patent application US 2002/0045960 A1, a media player is presented which implements a method for creating a playlist or alternating an existing playlist. The presented media player plays audio tracks, which audio tracks are associated with one or more metatags that are used to describe the content of each track. Examples of metatags are the artist's name, song title, album title, and date. When creating a new playlist, the user may select a metatag. The media player then creates a playlist by adding all songs to the playlist that correspond to the selected metatag, for example all songs from a selected artist. Alternatively, the user may create a playlist by selecting a plurality of songs from the songs having a metatag which corresponds to the selected metatag.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a selection of a media item from a plurality of media items in an advantageous manner. To this end, the invention provides a method, a system and a media player as specified in the independent claims. Advantageous embodiments are defined in the dependent claims.

When a user of a media player like an MP3 player or a Compact Disc player wishes to create a perceiving experience that fits a certain situation, he needs to create a playlist suitable for the occasion. The creation of such a playlist requires many actions for searching and selecting media items that fit the intended situation. Furthermore, the creation of a suitable playlist requires knowledge of the user about his available collection of media items. For example when the media items are music songs the user needs to have musical knowledge about the available collection of music songs like for example style, artist, year of release etc. Furthermore, every new situation or new mood requires creating a new playlist. A playlist therefore does not provide a flexible solution for creating a desired perceiving experience. It will be advantageous to select media items for creating a desired perceiving experience without the need of creating a playlist. According to an aspect of the invention, a method for selecting a media item from a plurality of media items is provided, each of the plurality of media items being linked to at least one out of a plurality of content related attribute-value pairs, the method comprising the steps of defining for at least one attribute of said plurality of attribute-value pairs at least two desired probabilities of selecting a media item having a predetermined value for said at least one attribute, resulting in a desired probability distribution of at least two predetermined values for which a desired probability has been defined, selecting an actual value from said at least two predetermined values in accordance with said desired probability distribution, and selecting one of said plurality of media items having an attribute-value pair corresponding to said actual value and the attribute linked to said actual value. Each of the plurality of media items are linked to at least one out of a plurality of attribute-value pairs. For example, the media items may be music songs, which music songs can be linked to for example at least one of the attributes artist, style, genre, tempo, tempo-range, instruments used, popularity, number of times played, time of release, release year, and release decade. For a media item, the attributes are linked to values, for example, a music song can have a value Rap for the attribute Style, and a value Fast for the attribute Tempo. The invention is based on the insight that a perceiving experience can be created without the need of creating a playlist by defining a desired probability distribution of at least two predetermined values. In a relatively easy manner, the user may define a desired perceiving experience by selecting at least one attribute and defining at least two desired probabilities of selecting a media item having a predetermined value for the at least one attribute. For example, a listener to music may define a desired probability distribution of 20 percent Rap, 30 percent Dance and 50 percent Jazz. In this case the values are all linked to the same attribute Style, but it is also possible to define a probability distribution of predetermined values, wherein the predetermined values are linked to a plurality of attributes. For example a listener may define a probability distribution of 20 percent Jamiroquai, 30 percent Dance and 50 percent Jazz. The value Jamiroquai is linked to the attribute Artist and the other values are linked to the attribute Style. Furthermore, it is also possible to define a probability for remaining attribute-value pairs. In that case, the value can be all values except the at least two predetermined values for which a desired probability of selecting has been defined, which values are linked to the attribute Remaining. It may also be possible to define a plurality of desired probability distributions of at least two predetermined values, which desired probability distributions are combined to result in a desired perceiving experience. According to an embodiment of the invention, it may be possible to define a first desired probability distribution defined for a starting moment in time and at least one further desired probability distribution defined for a later moment in time, which first desired probability distribution is adapted over time in accordance with at least one of the at least one further desired probability distribution defined for a later moment in time to obtain an adapted desired probability distribution. The selection of a media item is performed by using the adapted desired probability distribution. By adapting the first probability distribution over time, a changing perceiving experience may be obtained over time. For example, when the music items are songs, the perceiving experience may be a loud music experience at the start of an evening and a romantic music experience at the end of the evening. According to a further embodiment of the invention, at least two desired probability distributions are combined into a combined desired probability distribution, which combined desired probability distribution is used for selecting a media item. For example, two users may each have defined a desired probability distribution, which desired probability distributions may be different from each other. When the users are in the same environment with a single media player for both users, it will be advantageous to combine the two desired probability distributions into a single combined desired probability distribution, which single combined desired probability distribution may be a compromise for both users regarding their desired perceiving experience. The desired probability distributions may be combined by taking an average of probabilities, or adding/deleting predetermined values in dependence on the defined predetermined values and their defined probabilities. It is noted that it may be needed to send information about a desired probability distribution of one user to another user, or to a basis station for combining the desired probability distributions.

When a desired probability distribution of at least two predetermined values is defined, an actual value is selected in accordance with the desired probability distribution of the at least two predetermined values. The actual value and the attribute linked to the actual value are used to select a media item having a corresponding attribute-value pair. When there are a plurality of media items having a corresponding attribute-value pair, a random selection or another type of selection from these media items may be performed. In the examples discussed next, a media player is introduced for playing music songs like MP3 files, but the invention may also be used in other media players, such as video players or digital photo viewers or even radio stations, television stations, Internet services and the like.

In an embodiment of the invention, the desired probability distribution of predetermined values is defined by defining a pie-chart having at least two pie-parts corresponding to the at least two predetermined values, the pie-parts having proportions in dependence on the at least two desired probabilities. The pie-chart can be defined by a user in a relatively easy way. Moreover, the desired perceiving experience may be visually made clear in a relatively easy, user-friendly manner.

In a further embodiment of the invention, the pie-chart is used to visualize the selection procedure to a user by spinning the pie-chart, slowing down the pie-chart until the pie-chart stops at a random position, and selecting the actual value corresponding to a pie-part of the pie-chart in dependence on the position where the pie-chart stopped. This method of visualizing may be compared to the visualization of a wheel of fortune and provides a user-friendly, interactive manner of visualizing the selection procedure. In order to achieve more interactivity with a user, it may be possible for the user to select the moment in time when the spinning pie-chart starts slowing down. Or the user may adjust the speed of slowing down the pie-chart, for example by applying a brake to the spinning pie-chart or adjusting the rolling resistance. Also, the user may apply a hold to a pie-chart in order use the previous selected actual value when selecting the next media item.

The aforementioned and other aspects of the invention will be apparent from and elucidated with reference to the embodiments described hereinafter.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 shows a block diagram representing a method for selecting a media item from a plurality of media items according to an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 shows a user interface according an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 3 shows a user interface according to a further embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 4 shows a user interface according an even further embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 5 shows a media player according to an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 1 shows a block diagram 1 representing a method for selecting a media item from a plurality of media items according to an embodiment of the invention. Each of the media items are linked to content related attribute-value pairs. Examples of attribute-value pairs for a media item such as a music song are the attribute Artist linked to an artist's name as a value like Jamiroquai and the attribute Style linked to a music style as a value like Pop. Examples of attribute-value pairs in the case that a media item is a movie or a part of a movie, are the attribute Actor linked to an actor's name as a value like Anthony Hopkins and the attribute Genre linked to a movie genre as a value like Thriller. Examples of attribute-value pairs in the case that a media item is a picture is the attribute Date linked to a date as a value when the picture was taken like Jan. 30, 2003 and the attribute Dominant Color linked to a dominant color in the picture as a value like Green. The attribute-value pairs may be defined by a user or may be available from other sources like the Internet, for example from the Internet services like CDDB and FreeDB today. In order to avoid unnecessary details in the description, the plurality of media items will be music songs in the following examples. It will be clear to a person skilled in the art that the same examples may hold for other media items such as movies, parts of movies, video clips, or digital pictures. In step 10 of the block diagram 1 a desired probability distribution of predetermined values is defined. The desired probability distribution of predetermined values may be loaded from a set of stored desired probability distributions, which desired probability distributions may be stored by a user or may be available from another source like the Internet. Also, it may be possible that a stored desired probability distribution can be adapted by a user later on. FIG. 2 shows a user interface 2 according to an embodiment of the invention. The user interface 2 may be used to define a desired probability distribution of predetermined values. The user interface 2 comprises a table 20 for representing attribute-value pairs to the user. The table 20 comprises at least one attribute 4, for example the attribute Style. The table 20 further comprises at least two values V linked to the at least one attribute A. Examples of values for the attribute Style are music styles like Rap, Dance, R&B, Pop, Rock etc. Also, the value Other can be an option for all remaining music styles that are not selected. The user may select a value from the values V and the selected values, i.e. values V₁, V₂ and V₃ are placed in a pie-chart 22. The values V₁, V₂, V₃ may be for example Rap, Dance and R&B, which values are all linked to the same attribute Style, which is not necessarily the case. The pie-chart 22 comprises for each of the selected values a pie-part V₁, V₂, V₃ which will have proportions, which proportions may be initially equal to each other. In this case the values V₁, V₂, V₃ will each have a proportion of approximately 33%. The proportions of the pie-parts V₁, V₂, V₃ may be changed by the user in dependence on the desired probabilities of selecting a media item having a value corresponding to V₁, V₂, and V₃ respectively. For example, the user may define that he likes to hear 30% Rap songs, 60% Dance songs and 10% R&B songs, which corresponds to pie-proportions 30%, 60%, and 10% for respectively V₁, V₂, and V₃ as shown in FIG. 2. It may also be possible to display these percentages in the corresponding pies. The user may change the proportions by selecting a pie-part by means of for example a mouse pointer and move the mouse pointer towards the center of the pie-chart to decrease or move the mouse pointer away from the center to increase the proportion of the selected pie-part. When changing the proportion of a pie-part, it will be advantageous to maintain the ratio of proportions of other pie-parts. For example, when the user changes the 60% proportion of V₂, the 3 to 1 ratio of V₁ and V₃ should be maintained. Defining of the proportions in step 10 results in a desired probability distribution of predetermined values, in this example of predetermined values V₁, V₂, and V₃.

In step 12 it is decided if a new media item needs to be selected. This may happen when the user indicates by a user input that he likes to hear a next song, or when the previous song has stopped playing, or when the song has come nearly to its end, or after a predetermined time, or when receiving a remote signal. If this is the case (Y), in step 14, an actual value V, is selected from the predetermined values in accordance with the desired probability distribution of the predetermined values as defined in step 10. In the case of the example, there is a probability of 10% that V_(a) will be V₁, 60% that V_(a) will be V₂, and 30% that V_(a) will be V₃ when a new media item needs to be selected (Y). The selection procedure can be visualized to the user by means of the user interface 2 shown in FIG. 2. When a new media item needs to be selected (Y), the pie-chart 22 can spin at a random speed for example in the direction of arrow 24. The pie-chart then slows down until it stops, comparable with a wheel of fortune. A cursor 26 points to a pie-part of the stopped pie-chart, which predetermined value of the pie-part is selected as the actual value V_(a), for example V_(a)=V₃ (Rap) as indicated in FIG. 2. As the pie-chart spins at a random speed and/or slows down in a random time-period, the proportions of the pie-parts correspond to the desired probabilities of selecting a predetermined value like in the case of a wheel of fortune. As an option, it may be possible for a user to indicate the speed at which the spinning pie-chart slows down. The user may also adapt the moment in time the spinning pie-chart slows down. Optionally, the user may also hold the pie-chart at its current position, for example by applying a hold button. In that case, no new actual value but the current actual value is used for the further selection procedure. The actual value V_(a) is used in step 16, wherein a media item is selected having an attribute-value pair corresponding to the actual value V_(a) and the attribute linked to the actual value V_(a). In this case the actual value V_(a) is the value Rap which is linked to the attribute Style. When in the collection of media items that is available for selection, there are more than one media items that correspond to the selected attribute-value pair a further selection need to be performed. This further selection may be a random selection or another type of selection known in the art. The random selection may be constrained by parameters like a parameter if a song has already been played or a parameter if a song has already been played in predetermined elapsed time period. After the selection procedure in step 16, it is again decided in step 12 if a new media item needs to be selected.

FIG. 3 shows a further user interface 3 according to an embodiment of the invention. The user interface 3 comprises the user interface 2, but a further pie-chart 36 is added. Also in the further pie-chart a desired probability distribution of predetermined values for different attributes may be defined in an equal way to defining pie-chart 22. In this case, pie-chart 32 comprises the predetermined values V₄ and V₅, which may be the values Slow and Fast respectively linked to the attribute Tempo. The attributes A and possible predetermined values V may be selected from the table 20. When selecting a media item, both pie-charts spin like a wheel of fortune in the directions of arrows 24 and 34 respectively and stop. In this case two predetermined values V₃ and Vs are pointed to by cursors 26 and 36 respectively, the two predetermined values V₃ and V₅ being linked to the different attributes Style and Tempo respectively. The attributes need to be different in order to avoid a conflicting situation like selecting both the values Slow and Fast for the same attribute Tempo. Next, the two selected attribute-value pairs are both used when selecting a media item. For example, a media item is selected when it comprises both selected attribute-value pairs. So, in this case, a song is selected which comprises a value Fast for attribute Tempo and a value Rap for attribute Style. It is also possible to use different desired probability distributions over time. For example, desired probability distribution 22 may be taken as a starting point and desired probability distribution 32 as an ending point of a predetermined time period for playing media items. In this case, it is not necessary that the desired probability distributions are defined for different attributes. When selecting a media item, for example only desired probability distribution 22 is used, which desired probability distribution 22 is gradually transforming into the desired probability distribution 32. This transformation may be visualized by morphing pie-chart 22 into pie-chart 32 over a predetermined time-period. In stead of using two probability distributions, it is also possible to use more than two probability distributions. The transforming of a probability distribution may be performed by adding or deleting predetermined values or by adapting a desired probability of a predetermined value during time. When at least two desired probability distributions are defined, it is also possible to combine the at least two probability distributions into a combined desired probability distribution. For example in the case that two users have defined perceiving experiences by defining two desired probability distributions, which two desired probability distributions may be different from each other. When the two users have to listen to music for example in the same room by the same media player, the two desired probability distributions may be combined with each other in order to obtain a compromise of the two desired perceiving experiences. The combining of the desired probability distributions may be performed by adding or deleting predetermined values or by adapting a desired probability of a predetermined value. For example, all predetermined values from the at least two desired probability distributions may be added in the combined desired probability distribution, or at least the predetermined values may be added that have a desired probability which is larger than a predetermined minimum desired probability. For the desired probabilities the averages may be calculated in order to obtain a compromise of desired probabilities.

FIG. 4 shows an even further user interface 4 according to an embodiment of the invention. The attributes and values may again be available from table 20. The user-interface 4 shows a probability distribution 42 having a combination of predetermined values in a single pie-part. For example, there is a probability of 20% that a media item is selected having the predetermined values V₁ and V₄, which may correspond, respectively, to the value R&B for the attribute Style and the value Slow for the attribute Tempo. Other values in the pie-chart 42 may for example be V₁, which may be the value Dance for the attribute Style having a desired probability of selecting of 50%, and V₆ which may be the value Jamiroquai for the attribute Artist having a desired probability of selecting of 30%. When a media item needs to be selected the pie-chart 42 turns like a wheel of fortune in the direction of arrow 44. The cursor 46 selects the actual value or actual values for selecting the media item.

FIG. 5 shows a media player 5 according to an embodiment of the invention. The media player may be a media player suitable for playing at least one of the media items music songs, MP3-files, Compact Disc songs, movies, DVD-tracks, pictures, and JPG-files or other possible media items. The media player 5 may be implemented in hardware but it is also possible to implement the media player 5 as a software based media player. The media player comprises a communication channel 50 for obtaining media items which may be a wireless connection, a data bus, the Internet or a storage medium. In case the communication channel 50 is a storage medium, the storage medium may be fixed in the system or may also be a removable disc, a memory stick etc. The communication channel 50 may be part of the media player 5, but this is not necessary. The communication channel 50 comprises a plurality of media items and attribute-value pairs that can be linked to the each of the plurality of media items. It may also be possible to store the attribute-value pairs at another communication channel than the communication channel 50. For example, the media items may be stored on a medium as a part of the media player 5 and the attribute-value pairs linked to the media items may be obtained from the Internet. The media player 5 further comprises a selection system 52, which selection system 52 selects a media item according to an embodiment of the invention. A user-interface may be visualized in a display 54. The display may be an LCD display, a CRT monitor, a television or any other display suitable for visualizing a user-interface. The media-player 5 may further comprise an input device 56 which may be a keyboard, a computer mouse, a joystick, a touch-screen or any other suitable input device for obtaining an input from the user. The media player 5 may further comprise a media item playing device 58. The media item playing device 58 may be an amplifier and speaker or headphones for playing songs possibly combined with a TV screen when playing video, or a display screen for displaying digital pictures.

It should be noted that the above-mentioned embodiments illustrate rather than limit the invention, and that those skilled in the art will be able to design many alternative embodiments without departing from the scope of the appended claims. In the claims, any reference signs between parenthesis shall not be construed as limiting the claim. The word ‘comprising’ does not exclude the presence of other elements or steps than those listed in a claim. The invention can be implemented by means of hardware comprising several distinct elements, and by means of a suitably programmed computer. In a device claim enumerating several means, several of these means can be embodied by one and the same item of hardware. The mere fact that certain measures are recited in mutually different dependent claims does not indicate that a combination of these measures cannot be used to advantage. 

1. A method (1) for selecting a media item from a plurality of media items, each of the plurality of media items being linked to at least one out of a plurality of content related attribute-value pairs, the method (1) comprising the steps of: defining (10) for at least one attribute of said plurality of attribute-value pairs at least two desired probabilities of selecting a media item having a predetermined value for said at least one attribute, resulting in a desired probability distribution (22) of at least two predetermined values for which a desired probability has been defined; selecting (14) an actual value from said at least two predetermined values in accordance with said desired probability distribution (22); and selecting (16) one of said plurality of media items having an attribute-value pair corresponding to said actual value and the attribute linked to said actual value.
 2. The method (1) according to claim 1, wherein selecting a media item from a plurality of media items is performed at at least one of the following events (12): a user indicates by a user input to play a next media item; a previous media item has finished playing; a previous media item has come nearly to its end; a predetermined time has elapsed; a remote signal has been received.
 3. The method (1) according to claim 1, wherein the defining step (10) is performed at least twice for different attributes, resulting in at least two different desired probability distributions (22, 32) of at least two predetermined values, the method (1) further comprising the steps of selecting (14) at least two actual values from said at least two predetermined values in accordance with said at least two desired probability distributions (22, 32); and selecting (16) one of said plurality of media items having attribute-value pairs corresponding to said at least two actual values and the attributes linked to said at least two actual values.
 4. The method (1) according to claim 1, wherein the defining step (10) is performed at least twice, resulting in a first desired probability distribution (22) of at least two predetermined values defined for a starting moment in time and at least one further desired probability distribution (32) of at least two predetermined values defined for a later moment in time, the method (1) further comprising the steps of: adapting said first desired probability distribution (22) over time in accordance with said at least one further desired probability distribution (32) to obtain an adapted desired probability distribution of at least two predetermined values; selecting (14) an actual value from said at least two predetermined values in accordance with said adapted desired probability distribution; and selecting (16) one of said plurality of media items having an attribute-value pair corresponding to said actual value and the attribute linked to said actual value.
 5. The method (1) according to claim 1, wherein the defining step (10) is performed at least twice, resulting in at least two desired probability distributions (22, 32) of at least two predetermined values, the method (1) further comprising the steps of: combining the at least two desired probability distributions into a combined desired probability distribution of at least two predetermined values; selecting (14) an actual value from said at least two predetermined values in accordance with said combined desired probability distribution; and selecting (16) one of said plurality of media items having an attribute-value pair corresponding to said actual value and the attribute linked to said actual value.
 6. The method (1) according to claim 1, wherein the defining step (10) is performed by defining and visualizing a pie-chart (22) having at least two pie-parts corresponding to said at least two predetermined values, said pie-parts having proportions in dependence on said at least two desired probabilities.
 7. The method (1) according to claim 6, wherein the selection step (14) of an actual value comprises the steps of spinning (24) said pie-chart (22); slowing down said pie-chart (22) until said pie-chart stops at a random position; selecting said actual value corresponding to a pie-part of said pie-chart (22) in dependence on the position (26) where the pie-chart stopped.
 8. A system (I) for selecting a media item from a plurality of media items, each of the plurality of media items being linked to at least one out of a plurality of content related attribute-value pairs, the system comprising: means for defining (10) for at least one attribute of said plurality of attribute-value pairs at least two desired probabilities of selecting a media item having a predetermined value for said at least one attribute, resulting in a desired probability distribution (22) of at least two predetermined values for which a desired probability has been defined; means for selecting (14) an actual value from said at least two predetermined values in accordance with said desired probability distribution (22); and means for selecting (16) one of said plurality of media items having an attribute-value pair corresponding to said actual value and the attribute linked to said actual value.
 9. The system (1) according to claim 8, the system (1) further comprising: means for defining a pie-chart (22) having at least two pie-parts corresponding to said at least two predetermined values, said pie-parts having proportions in dependence on said at least two desired probabilities; and means for visualizing said pie-chart (22).
 10. The system (1) according to claim 9, the system (1) further comprising: means for spinning (24) said pie-chart (22); means for slowing down said pie-chart (22) until said pie-chart stops at a random position; and means for selecting (14) said actual value corresponding to a pie-part of said pie-chart (22) in dependence on the position where the pie-chart stopped.
 11. The system (1) according to claim 10, the system (1) further comprising means for selecting the moment in time said pie-chart (22) starts slowing down.
 12. The system (1) according to claim 10, the system (1) further comprising means for adjusting the speed of slowing down said pie-chart (22).
 13. The system (1) according to claim 10, the system (1) further comprising means for holding said pie-chart (22) at its current position for selecting (16) one of said plurality of media items having an attribute-value pair corresponding to a previous selected actual value and the attribute linked to said previous selected actual value.
 14. A media player (5) comprising means (50) for storing a plurality of media items; means (58) for playing said plurality of media items; and a system (1) for selecting a media item from said plurality of media items according to claim
 8. 